We need to get farmers off this treadmill, even if that means that milk has to cost a few pennies more.

The researchers, writing in the Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal, say there is no additional health risk from eating milk and dairy products.

MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a drug-resistant form of a usually harmless bacterium which can be deadly when it infects wounds.

‘New’ MRSA has been found in 13 of 940 samples from 450 English dairy herd.

The research also spotted a ‘clustering’ of human and cow samples that suggested transmission between them.

Dr Mark Holmes, a veterinary scientist who led the research said: ‘Although there is circumstantial evidence that dairy cows are providing a reservoir of infection, it is still not known for certain if cows are infecting people, or people are infecting cows.’

The MRSA infection is more commonly found in hospitals, however a massive improvement in hygiene has lead to the number of fatal cases dramatically dropping. There were 1,290 in 2008 and 781 in 2009.

A spokesman from the Food Standards Agency said: ‘The risk of contracting this strain of MRSA through milk is extremely low because the vast majority of cows’ milk is pasteurised.’